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5 May 1999
Run
like hell
Leave junior in the car and haul ass
By Terry Riley
Time for a pop quiz. OK, settle down people. Close your books, put
your notes away, and get out a sharp No. 2 pencil. Ready? Begin.
Here's
the scenario.
You are alone on a trip. You have just entered your parked
rent-a-car. You lock the doors and put the key in the ignition switch. Now
you remember that you need something from your suitcase which is locked in
the trunk. You disengage the trunk latch using a remote switch in the passenger compartment and get out of the car to retrieve the item. As you
turn to reenter the car, a man with a gun appears and insists on taking
the car now.
Do you:
A. Refuse and try to block his entry into your car?
B. Jump in the car to try to start it so you can drive away?
C. Plead with him to let you have your suitcase before he takes
the car?
D. Demand that he either give you your suitcase, or you will
insist on going with him?
E. Try to wrestle the gun away from the assailant so you can
shoot him?
F. Run like hell away from the car?
This is a no-brainer. The answer is F.
Now
let me make a slight change in the scenario.
You are on a trip with your
two-year-old child. You have secured her in a car seat in the rear
passenger area of your parked rent-a-car. You walk around to the driver's
side of your car, get in, lock the doors and put the key in the ignition
switch. You turn around and notice that your child's seat is not properly
secured. You get out of the car to make the adjustment. As you do, a man
with a gun appears and insists on taking the car now.
Do you:
A. Refuse and try to block his entry into your car?
B. Jump in the car to try to start it so you can drive away?
C. Plead with him to let you have your child before he takes
the car?
D. Demand that he either give you your child, or you will
insist on going with him?
E. Try to wrestle the gun away from the assailant so you can
shoot him?
F. Run like hell away from the car?
The answer here is the same: F.
Wait! Before you shoot off that nasty e-mail to me, let me assure you
that I have not taken leave of my senses nor am I the cold SOB you're
thinking. I don't equate children with luggage. Just hear me out.
If you were to plead, you'd be wasting you breath. If you were to
resist, you could be injured—or worse—and the mope would probably take the
car anyway. And if you were to insist on staying with your child, the
carjacker would then have two victims instead of one. What's worse, there
may be no one to report the incident or to get immediate help.
The correct answer, from me, the travel security expert, is definitely
F.
Now let's see a show of hands of all those who will follow my advice.
Is that everybody? No hands?
Well you are not alone. I've run this little exercise time and time
again in my workshops and have yet to see a hand. No one takes issue with
the logic of my advice nor does anyone say that he would follow it. There
is something about being a parent that makes ordinary people nuts about
their kids.
So let's move from the hypothetical back to the real world. A study
undertaken by the U.S. Department of Justice found that in a one year
period, eight cases were reported in which infants were kidnapped in
carjackings. Most of the carjackers were unaware of the child in the car,
and in all but one of the cases, the children were recovered shortly
thereafter.
Carjackers want cars, not kids. Babies are pains for carjackers. They
are noisy and uncooperative, and their kidnappings stir emotions and rally
searchers so intensely that the apprehension of the accidental kidnapper
would be probable and uncomfortable.
With all the real dangers that face you and your kids when you travel,
better you should worry about something other than a carjacking/kidnapping
double whammy. It doesn't happen.
Pencils down.
© 1999 Applied Psychology
... and from Travel Fox:
GangstaLand set to
open near Orlando - More T-shirt shops expected on International Drive
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